COOPER WEBB | GRIT-222 | 450MX

Seeking to take his strong points from Fox Raceway, and continue to advance in the approaching rounds of the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross Championship, there were few in the class that could rival the speed of KTM’s Cooper Webb as he pieced together various aspects of the course on Saturday morning. All seemed to be well as he then stormed into the moto’s thereafter, where the field would funnel through the initial left and right handed corners with aggression — as he resided third in the first few minutes of action. He refused to settle, which was evident while pursuing Dylan Ferrandis; but he would have to deal with a surging Aaron Plessinger, who would actually make the pass near the mechanic’s area just after two minutes of race-time had transpired. Webb was now fourth, but looking to maintain a designation alongside the top-three while tracking-down the rear wheel of the number seven. But Plessinger and Ferrandis were in a hard-fought battle of their own, leaving Webb seemingly at a pace that was by himself for a good while. Yet he remained calculated while refusing to override the track, and his lead over Adam Cianciarulo (who was fifth) was rather significant; pushing him into a standing of fourth that was nearly solidified with around five laps to go. And after reaching the thirty-minute mark and bypassing the two lap board, it was Webb who eventually claimed fourth prior to advancing into the next moto. His start for the second moto was spectacular, where he resided second behind Jett Lawrence after moving around Aaron Plessinger and Dylan Ferrandis long before taking the green flag. Webb was stealth-like in this moto, where he plotted certain areas of aggression (where traction was warranted) and maintained precise with the throttle in slick areas of the racecourse as well. Plessinger was relentless in his pursuit of overtaking the third position though, switching from outside to inside in a multitude of areas on the racecourse; which led to him attacking the rear wheel of Webb after nineteen minutes of the moto had gone by! But it was then, when Aaron stayed a bit lower (while keeping more momentum) over the tabletop before the uphill rollers, and would make the pass on the number two machine in the seconds thereafter. Webb seemed to be solidified in third at that point, even though Dylan Ferrandis was now charging to his rear fender...but Cooper was focused on the path ahead, which led him to passing Plessinger as the number seven had crashed in the corner after the finish line! Roughly twenty-seven minutes had passed at this point, which led to Webb sprinting to the checkered flag — retaining second after eventually extending his gap to over six-seconds (ahead of Ferrandis in third). The runner-up finish in the latter moto of the afternoon was outstanding, and helped him clench third place overall in the record book(s)!

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